


With Someone Like You

by sharkle



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot Collection, literally just pointless fluff probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 21:46:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10705770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkle/pseuds/sharkle
Summary: "This was the same gentle way Alex always handled her, like she was precious – not fragile or delicate, not like she might break, but like maybe Maggie was worth too much to her to take the risk anyway. No one had ever touched her like this until Alex, with so much certainty and care."Day by day, Alex and Maggie are learning that maybe, possibly, they were kinda, potentially, definitely meant for each other. It's the little things that make all the difference. A series of one-shots.





	1. shower

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a post on tumblr a while ago in the format of, "Be with someone who does xyz for you," a really short list of cute things (I haven't been able to find it since I copy/pasted it, otherwise I'd put a link, woops) - and since I spend every waking moment of my goddamn life thinking about these two, I decided I'd treat that post like a list of prompts.
> 
> We'll see if I actually get through all 8 of these? I only put the chapter count to be optimistic, but I have finals in a couple weeks, so, y'know. Be skeptical. In the meantime, I'm on tumblr @ [detmaggie](http://jodqriel.tumblr.com/)! Come say hi. :)

_Be with someone who you can giggle with in the shower, with absolutely no sexual interaction necessary._

* * *

Alex got home late, a couple hours after Maggie, who had already prepared her apologies and explanations about getting caught up at the station. All of Maggie’s texts to Alex had gone unanswered, but she tried not to worry too much – it wasn’t even that unusual for Alex to go radio silent for a day, she reminded herself, and there was no point in getting worked up if it turned out to be for nothing.

When Alex’s key scraped in the lock and she stumbled inside, looking tired but uninjured, and relieved to see her, Maggie was grateful for her own restraint. Kissing her in greeting and allowing Maggie to wrap her in a hug, Alex quietly assured her that the problem had been taken care of, everyone was fine, and she’d tell Maggie what had happened – nothing too devastating, she promised – in the morning.

“Come shower with me?” she said. “We don’t have to – do anything, it’s just – been a long day, I missed you.”

And between her hopeful eyes and the idea that she’d had time to miss Maggie, even in the middle of whatever potentially life-threatening craziness the DEO had thrown at her today, Maggie couldn’t have told her no even if she’d wanted to – which she definitely, absolutely didn’t. So she said, “Of course,” and they went into the bathroom together. Alex turned the water on so it could heat up while Maggie got them both clean towels, and they helped each other undress.

It was a different experience, somehow, without the promise of sex underlying their touches – almost clinical, not quite mechanical. Maggie couldn’t completely ignore the heat that inevitably spiked in her gut at the sight of Alex’s lean thighs, couldn’t hold back a shiver as Alex’s hands skimmed against the sides of her breasts – but her desire felt dimmed, overshadowed by the more insistent need for simple, intimate closeness that Alex seemed to have brought home, and that Maggie seemed to have absorbed.

Though the novelty of seeing each other naked had worn off a long time ago, Maggie still felt an ache in her chest, Alex was just so effortlessly beautiful. Gesturing for Alex to go ahead with a grand sweep of her arm, she let her hand hover over the small of Alex’s back as she led the way into the shower; then Alex turned back and held out a hand, like she was asking Maggie to dance. Maggie smiled, and took it.

They took turns ducking under the spray to get their hair wet, steam starting to rise around them. Alex fiddled with the water temperature a bit, like she always did, and when she seemed satisfied, Maggie grabbed the shampoo, holding it up in a kind of question: _Want me to do this for you?_ As an answer, Alex turned her back to Maggie, throwing an appreciative look over her shoulder – _Yes, please_.

Maggie ran a soothing hand over Alex’s shoulders, trying to smooth out some of her tension and fatigue, which were always worse after a hard day. She followed up with a soft kiss to the back of Alex’s neck; Alex sighed, and her shoulders slumped enough for Maggie to feel ready to proceed. She squeezed some shampoo into her palm and set the bottle aside.

She reached up and worked the shampoo into a thick lather, massaging it into Alex’s scalp, so that Alex hummed a little and tilted her head back into Maggie’s hands. Her hair was so short, it only took a minute to be through washing it, but Maggie wasn’t ready to be done with her just yet. Tongue poking between her teeth, she started piling Alex’s hair on top of her head, flattening it between her palms.

Realizing what she was aiming for, Alex chuckled. She let Maggie work in silence for a minute.

“You done?”

“Almost…” Maggie pressed her hands together again, trying to get Alex’s hair to stand up straight – or at least, to keep it from flopping over as soon as she let go. “Okay, turn around, I wanna see.”

Alex faced her. “Do I look punk?” she deadpanned.

Did she look _punk_ , bare-faced and naked in the shower, with water dripping off her chin and her hair in a miniature shampoo mohawk? Maggie laughed aloud, shampoo sliding down her wrists. “Oh, definitely.”

Alex smirked a little, inspecting the top of her head blindly with one hand, careful not to destroy Maggie’s hard work. “You know, I always wanted a mohawk when I was a teenager.”

“Ooh, so I fulfilled a fantasy for you?”

Maggie waggled her eyebrows, but Alex didn’t take the bait, just rolled her eyes indulgently.

“Something like that,” she said. “My turn.”

She made grabby hands for the shampoo bottle; Maggie handed it to her, and they switched places.

Before doing anything with the shampoo, though, Alex combed her fingers through Maggie’s hair, which was heavy and thick with water. Maggie shivered pleasantly at the brush of Alex’s hands against her ears and neck, the tenderness in her touch. This was the same gentle way Alex always handled her, like she was precious – not fragile or delicate, not like she might break, but like maybe Maggie was worth too much to her to take the risk anyway. No one had ever touched her like this until Alex, with so much certainty and care.

Thankfully, the snap of the shampoo bottle behind her kept her from getting too sentimental. She resisted the urge to lean back against the warm curves of Alex’s body and heaved a long sigh, closing her eyes as Alex started to return the head massage treatment Maggie had given her.

“Turn around?” Alex said after a while, a request, as though she’d sensed the slight shift in Maggie’s mood.

Without opening her eyes, Maggie complied – just in time, apparently, for Alex’s hand to come up to her forehead, preventing shampoo from dripping into her eyes. Again, there was the soothing sweep of Alex’s touch up into her hairline, a light caress over her scalp. Maggie smiled her thanks.

Alex reached around and parted Maggie’s hair on either side of her neck, bringing both parts forward over her shoulders. She made a brief attempt to loop them into circles against the sides of Maggie’s head in a poor imitation of Princess Leia’s buns, but ditched that idea after they immediately drooped and fell apart. Maggie squinted one eye open to catch Alex smiling, laughing at herself even as her eyebrows drew together in concentration.

“Having trouble?” Maggie said.

“Maybe. Hang on, let me try again.”

This time, Alex didn’t bother going for elegance. Instead, she just laid each half of Maggie’s hair across the top of her head, in two long, sudsy, clumped-up strips.

“Oh, god,” Alex said, with a self-deprecating chuckle.

“Is it that bad?” Curious, Maggie reached up to investigate Alex’s work and found herself patting a thick layer of shampoo and hair. She felt like she was wearing a weird, damp, poorly balanced helmet. She dropped her hand, grinning, eyebrows raised. “How do I look?”

“Ridiculous.”

“Perfect, that means we match.”

Alex wrinkled her nose playfully at her, but then her smile turned soft, sweet. She wrapped her fingers around the back of Maggie’s neck, tugging her forward with the lightest pressure, her thumb stroking along the corner of Maggie’s jaw.

“I love you,” she sighed, the words nearly lost to the noise of the water, and it was so unexpectedly heartfelt that Maggie felt a little clench in her chest as she stepped into Alex’s space, letting her bring their foreheads together.

“I love you, too,” she murmured, and closed her eyes again.

What a picture they must have made, both standing in the shower with stupid shampoo hairstyles, their arms wrapped loosely around each other – but Maggie, for an instant, felt like she could live in the endless peace of this moment forever.

Eventually, she kissed Alex – quick, chaste – and pulled back, away from the tantalizing, comforting solidity of her body. Alex didn’t complain as they both dropped their arms. They smiled at each other.

“Come on,” Maggie said softly, guiding Alex by the hand under the spray of the shower, hoping she made Alex feel even half as content as she felt right now. “Let’s get you ready for bed.”


	2. co-pilots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex is kind of a nerd, especially when it comes to sci-fi and thought-provoking theoreticals. Maggie's got some issues. They work it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you by the fact that I've been wanting to rewatch Pacific Rim for the last like two months, but still haven't done it because the DVD's on the top shelf where I can't reach, and I haven't had the motivation to get it down. And if that's not an indication of the state of my life right now, I don't know what is.
> 
> Speaking of Pacific Rim, I definitely have to plug onefootonego's [pacrim AU](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9852707/chapters/22108787), which is really awesome and which you should definitely go read if you haven't already. Slow-burn Sanvers _actually_ drifting, among other things - it's good stuff.
> 
> Come talk to me on [tumblr](http://jodqriel.tumblr.com/)!

_Be with someone you can talk to about absolutely anything._

* * *

 “So, I have a very serious relationship question.”

Typically not what you wanted to hear when you were out to dinner with your long-term girlfriend.

Burger halfway to her mouth, Maggie froze, meeting Alex’s gaze over her sesame seed bun. Her face was a mask, giving nothing away; but knowing Alex, that was better than visible anxiety and apprehension, so Maggie chose to take it as a good sign.

“Okay,” she said slowly, more intrigued than worried by the glint in Alex’s eye. She decided it was safe to go ahead and take a bite of her burger anyway. “Shoot.”

“Are we drift compatible?”

That was definitely _not_ what she’d been expecting. Maggie grinned around her mouthful of food, covering her mouth with one hand as she chewed and tried to recover from her surprise.

“I _knew_ you liked that movie,” she said as soon as she swallowed, pointing a victorious finger at Alex across the table.

They’d ended up watching _Pacific Rim_ at movie night last weekend – Winn’s choice, his prize for beating them all at Settlers of Catan at game night – and Alex had acted all unimpressed through the whole thing, skeptical of the concept and science and logic of it all, ignoring Maggie’s reminders to _suspend your disbelief for five minutes, babe, this movie’s awesome._ Because, like, giant robots killing giant, murderous aliens with giant swords? That earned a _hell yes_ in Maggie’s book, plausibility be damned.

At the same time, though, Maggie knew Alex had gotten sucked into it, whether she admitted it or not. It was impossible not to notice her reactions when they were pressed together on Kara’s couch, and she was _positive_ Alex had gotten a little choked up over Mako’s relationship with Pentecost. She _had_ to have picked up on the parallels between those two and her mentor/father figure dynamic with J’onn, right? Maggie was sure she had.

“I never said I didn’t like it,” Alex protested.

“Uh-huh.” Maggie set down her burger and wiped her hands on a paper napkin. “I don’t know. Do _you_ think we’re drift compatible?”

Alex narrowed her eyes, biting a fry in half. “I asked you first.”

Fair enough. Maggie tilted her head, considering her answer. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t thought about it before, especially watching the way Mako and Raleigh traded blows in the training room, flawlessly anticipating and countering each other’s attacks.

“I’d like to think so,” she said, after a few moments. “We make a pretty good team, whether it’s work or fighting or whatever. We can usually read each other pretty well. And, I mean,” –  she ducked her head a little, shrugged – “you’re basically the closest thing to a real partner I’ve ever had.”

A cute blush rose on Alex’s cheeks. She always seemed so pleased, when Maggie referred to her as her “partner,” but Maggie usually found herself feeling vaguely embarrassed for some reason, despite how right it felt. Part of it, at least, probably had something to do with her poor track record regarding partners at work, and how that factored in with her general emotional ineptitude, the trust issues Alex was slowly, painstakingly, helping her work through.

Beyond that, though… _partner_ was weighty, in a way that _girlfriend_ wasn’t. More serious. Like _wife_ , in a way. Oh, god, heat crawled up her neck just thinking about – but it wasn’t like – there wasn’t anything wrong with the word “girlfriend,” she _loved_ thinking of Alex as her girlfriend, and calling Alex her girlfriend, and _being_ Alex’s girlfriend. It didn’t have quite the same thrill, now, as it had when they first got together, but it was comfortable, a constant, like an anchor point in Maggie’s mind when everything else in the world went to shit. The word “partner” felt like a step above that, seemed to more completely encompass what Alex meant to her.

But there was absolutely no way she could say any of that out loud right now, or maybe ever. She wasn’t even sure she knew how. No, instead it was time to do what she did best: deflect.

“And I guess we _kinda_ like each other, right?”

“ _Kinda,”_ Alex echoed, half-scoff, half-agreement, aiming a light kick at Maggie’s shin under the table.

Maggie tried to kick her back and missed, stole a couple of her fries instead. “So, yeah, I think we could probably make it work. Why, what were you thinking?”

At least Alex didn’t bother with the feeble pretense that this hadn’t been on her mind all week. “Mostly the same,” she said, snatching a fry from Maggie’s plate in retribution. “Except – I guess I’m wondering more about the emotional side of it?”

“What, like sharing thoughts and memories and stuff?”

“Yeah. I mean, we would _literally_ be inside each other’s heads, y’know? Like, sharing a consciousness, almost. That’s crazy. It sounds…” Alex casted around for the right word. “Intense.”

Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t know if you know this, Danvers, but you’re a pretty intense person.”

Alex chuckled in a kind of flustered way, hands floundering in the air as she struggled to clarify. “It’s just – I think we’ve both… been through a lot” – Maggie grimaced slightly – “and, I dunno… I guess I’m just curious about how we’d deal with that. Hypothetically, of course,” she added quickly.

“Of course.” Amused by Alex’s fumbling, Maggie made a show of leaning in, giving her a meaningful look. “Unless the DEO’s developing some top-secret, super advanced drift technology that I don’t know about.”

“That’s classified,” Alex said, grinning wryly.

Maggie huffed, shaking her head and sitting back again, studying Alex from her side of the booth. It was so deliberately worded – not _rehearsed_ , she didn’t think Alex had any reason to be _that_ worried about her response – but open, structured as an idea, rather than a question, so that Maggie didn’t feel obligated to answer directly. A subtle way of making sure Maggie had an out, in case she wasn’t in the mood to dwell on the past. Because Alex was simply wonderful like that sometimes.

Just to keep herself occupied, Maggie picked up her burger again and bit into it, chewing slowly. She considered just how far down this rabbit hole she was willing to go, weighing her options: How little could she get away with saying? And more importantly, how much did she need, or _want_ , to say?

“Are you _trying_ to get me to talk about my feelings?” she said, her tone slightly accusatory but light, stalling. “Because I might need a drink or two first.”

“ _No,_ ” Alex laughed, defensive, almost apologetic, “I was honestly just – thinking about it, it seemed interesting. But you know you can if you want to.”

There she went, being all thoughtful and patient again, making Maggie fall impossibly more in love with her. Smiling gently, Maggie slid a hand across the table, palm up in invitation; when Alex grabbed it, Maggie brought their joined hands to her mouth and pressed a kiss to Alex’s knuckles, hoping it conveyed her appreciation more than words could. Her girlfriend was a slightly terrifying, incredibly badass secret agent, and a giant nerd who had devoted serious time and energy to thinking about _Pacific Rim,_ of all movies _,_ over the last few days – but underneath both of those things, she was also endlessly kind and attentive and entirely too good to Maggie.

Now that she stopped to think about it, it was no contest – there was no one in the world she would rather (hypothetically) drift with, no one she trusted more to have her back. But still, even as she looked at Alex, saw her clear, calm expression, the warmth in her eyes as she gazed back at Maggie with compassion and affection – still, Maggie hesitated.

The thing was, Alex was right: they _had_ both suffered through a lot. High school had been Maggie’s own personal hell, and Alex had enough family issues of her own, between Kara and her mom and the whole Cadmus disaster with her dad. Their jobs were dangerous, and scary, and _hard_ , and sometimes kept them up at night with more than just paperwork. They’d each had their fair share of grief and heartache and loneliness, and truth be told, Maggie wasn’t sure that it was worth reaching a deeper level of empathy and understanding, just to essentially double their collective pain. If nothing else, she was certain they deserved better than that.

But then… Maggie had been happy, too, hadn’t she? At her first Pride, after her freshman year of college. Graduating from the police academy. Moving into her very own apartment for the first time. Every time she looked back and realized how far she’d come from being that lonesome kid who woke up every day terrified that she would never find a way to escape Blue Springs. And Alex – she was definitely happy with Alex. More than she’d ever imagined could be possible. More than she even believed was real, sometimes. And all that had to count for something, right?

“I don’t know,” she said finally, measuring her words carefully. “I’m not exactly crazy about the idea of you seeing… all the stuff I had to deal with, or experiencing it through me, or whatever. Not crazy about reliving most of it again, either - for either of us. But, on the plus side, maybe…” She made a face at herself, realizing even before she said it how sappy she was about to sound; but then she caught Alex’s gaze, figured she was in deep enough as it was, so she might as well commit to it. “Maybe you’d actually get to _feel_ how much I love you, which – y’know, could be nice.”

Alex’s fingers tightened around hers for an instant, mouth tugging up in a small, bashful smile, like she was still surprised, even after all this time, to be on the receiving end of someone’s affection – to be loved like this. Maggie smiled back at her.

“So, if it came down to it, and the world really was about to end, and our only hope of survival was to go ahead with this Martian mind-meld thing… I think we’d find a way to pull through.” Maggie shrugged a little. “We usually do.”

Alex chuckled. “My girlfriend, the romantic,” she said, voice low and teasing.

“Oh, I can step it up a notch,” Maggie promised. She saw the chance Alex was offering her to restore some levity to this conversation, and she jumped on it. Clearing her throat, she took Alex’s other hand and looked into her eyes. “Alex Danvers. Light of my life. Would you do me the honor… of piloting a giant fighting robot with me?”

“Oh my god, I have never been as attracted to you as I am right this second,” Alex said seriously, straight-faced, and Maggie laughed, releasing her hands with one final squeeze. “And the answer is yes, just for the record.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She reached over and snagged a couple more fries, but Alex didn’t so much as bat an eye until Maggie said, “Just know that if you decide to pilot a jaeger with Kara behind my back, I’m breaking up with you.”

Alex threw her straw wrapper at her.


	3. long day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, apparently I made it through finals and I'm still alive, sooo we're back in action! 
> 
> My original goal was to finish this fic by the end of this month, but given how long it took me to finish this chapter, I'm gonna call myself out in advance and say that's probably not gonna happen. But we'll see how many of these I can knock out as the season finishes up, and it'll be a good time. 
> 
> As always, you can find me over on tumblr @ [detmaggie](http://jodqriel.tumblr.com/).

_Be with someone who comes home from a long day at work, and still wraps you up in their arms as if it’s what they’ve been waiting for all day long._

* * *

The first thing Alex did when she got home – after dropping all her stuff in a pile by the door and heaving a sigh into the empty apartment – was check her bandages. Although the patch job she’d done on herself at the DEO had been swift and precise, as always, it had also been a little sloppy: She’d been in a rush to leave before J’onn could try to lecture her about working while she was injured, and now that his stern paternal glare was no longer a threat, the perfectionist in her itched to correct her mistakes.

Her pained hiss echoed in the bathroom as she carefully pulled back the bottom layer of gauze, her wound stinging in the air. The pair of lacerations curving along the outside of her left knee weren’t deep, but they’d been a bitch to clean – and they could have been a lot worse, if Kara hadn’t swooped in at the last second and punched the alien across the room, ensuring that Alex was safely out of reach of his foot-long talons. (Idly, she wondered if the novelty of watching Kara do that would ever wear off. Probably not.)

She was almost done applying fresh bandages, being more thorough this time, when she heard the front door open and close. Quickly finishing up, she rolled her pant leg back down and threw the first-aid supplies back into the heavy-duty kit she kept under the sink, and poked her head out of the bathroom.

“Hey, babe,” she said, smiling at the sight of Maggie sitting on a barstool at her kitchen island – but at the sound of her voice, Maggie jumped about a foot in the air and whipped her head around.

“ _Jesus_ , Danvers, you scared the _shit_ out of me,” she said, facing the kitchen again. “I didn’t think you’d be home so soon.”

Alex was grateful Maggie’s back was to her so she didn’t have to hide her slight limp. “We got done earlier than we thought.”

Which was _technically_ true. Apparently, the DEO had been _over_ prepared, for once, and aside from Alex’s mishap and a short scuffle, they’d taken the alien into custody without much trouble. But _that_ wasn’t the reason she’d been sent home so early. Alex had learned that it wasn’t always the best idea to greet her girlfriend with the approximate measure of how much blood she’d lost at work that day; she usually had to find the right moment – even if sometimes that moment came when Maggie was halfway through pulling her clothes off.

As she drew closer to Maggie, though, Alex frowned. Maggie seemed tense, she was jumpy, she wouldn’t make eye contact, she hadn’t realized Alex was home even though her stuff was still cluttering up the door…

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Maggie sighed, after a moment, but even as she said it, she folded her arms on the counter and rested her forehead on them, so her next words were muffled. “Just… had a really long day.”

Alex leaned against the island next to her, glad to take some weight off her leg, and considered her – the weariness in her voice, the exhaustion in the bend of her spine. She rested a hand on Maggie’s back, testing the waters. When Maggie didn’t brush her off, she rubbed lightly across her shoulders, letting her breathe for a minute.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Maggie shrugged, readjusting so she could peer up at Alex, heaving another small sigh.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said, closing her eyes as Alex’s hand migrated from her back to gently stroke her hair. “It was just… one of those days, y’know?”

“Yeah,” Alex said softly, grimacing in sympathy. There were days that drained you, whether it was work, or a string of minor inconveniences, or just your own internal monologue running you into the ground. It made her ache to remember how beautifully Maggie had smiled at her that morning. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I don’t know.” Maggie looked up at her, almost pleading. Alex gave her a reassuring smile, silently promising that whatever she asked for, it was okay. “I think – can I just… have a hug?”

Alex would move heaven and earth for this woman, and all she wanted was a _hug_. Her heart broke a little, but at the same time she wondered if Maggie would ever stop surprising her.

“Of _course_ you can have a hug.”

She straightened up; Maggie stood from the stool and practically fell against her. Alex wrapped her arms around Maggie’s shoulders, squeezing her tight, while Maggie hugged her around the waist, loosely, just barely hanging onto her.

Maggie rarely seemed smaller than when Alex was holding her like this – and as the thought crossed her mind, a swell of protectiveness rose inside her. Maggie was, truly, one of the strongest people Alex had ever known, but days like this – hard days, bad days – made her wish it was possible to protect Maggie from every awful thing in the world. She wished there was a way she could put her body between Maggie and – and _everything else_ – every stray bullet, every harsh word, every unforgiving thought that ever came her way. It would be worth it to endure the pain of a million more wounds like the one on her leg, if only she could make herself into a shield that would keep Maggie safe.

Try as she might, Alex knew that wish would never come true. Fortunately, if there was one thing she was good at, it was doing the best she could with the tools she was given – so, for now, she was happy to ignore the slight discomfort in her knee, and try to offer Maggie some kind of shelter, some semblance of sanctuary, just by holding her tight.

After a minute or so, Maggie shifted, starting to pull away. Alex pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead, watching her closely as she stepped back.

“Any better?” she asked.

“Yeah, actually.” Maggie mustered a smile, and Alex was pleased to see that it seemed genuine. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Alex said, smiling back at her. “Netflix? I’ll order dinner?”

Maggie’s whole body seemed to sag with relief. “Yes, please.”

“Chinese okay?”

Chinese was Maggie’s go-to comfort food, so Alex figured that would have been her pick anyway. The subtle softening of Maggie’s smile said she was grateful Alex knew her so well. She nodded.

“Be right back,” Maggie said.

While Maggie ducked into the bathroom to change, Alex grabbed a takeout menu from the kitchen and hobbled over to the couch. She was just debating whether it was the night for a lame comedy or a mindless crime drama when the bathroom door opened.

“Danvers, why do you have the first-aid kit out?”

Maggie’s tone was light, deliberately casual, in that annoying Detective Sawyer way she had that meant she’d probably guessed _exactly_ why the first-aid kit was sitting out, and she was waiting to hear an explanation.

Sheepish, Alex kind of shrugged as she turned to face Maggie’s pointedly raised eyebrows. “I may have gotten a _little_ scratched up at work.”

There must not have been enough incriminating evidence in the bathroom to get her in trouble, because Maggie just sighed again, looking more resigned than worried. She tossed her bundle of work clothes toward Alex’s bed and dropped down next to her on the couch, carefully maintaining a safe distance so she didn’t hurt Alex on accident.

“What’d you do this time?”

“I didn’t _do_ anything,” Alex said, glad Maggie was teasing her instead of lecturing her. “It’s just a couple scratches on my leg, they’re not that bad. I _promise_ ,” she added, when Maggie narrowed her eyes. “I’ll show you later. I probably need to redress them before bed anyway.”

After another moment or two of scrutiny, Maggie seemed to decide that was an acceptable answer: She shook her head in a way that was somehow judgmental and fond at the same time, leaning over to snatch the TV remote out of Alex’s hands. Lame comedy it was, apparently.

“Are you gonna have a cool scar, at least?” Maggie said.

Alex thought about it for a second, considering length, depth, placement. “Maybe a couple small ones. Why?”

Maggie gave her a sly look. “Well, I have it on good authority that chicks dig scars.”

“Hm, do they.”

Alex ducked her head, somewhat awkwardly, to press a quick, smirking kiss to the still-fading mark on Maggie’s arm, where a bullet had grazed her a couple months ago. She wanted to rest her head on Maggie’s shoulder, but wasn’t sure she could find a way to do that without inevitably twisting her knee. Instead, she put her arm around Maggie’s shoulders, pulling her against her side.

“Are you worried about _chicks_ , or just one chick in particular?” Alex said.

Maggie let her head fall against the back of the couch, gazing at her with such warmth that Alex still got a little bit of a swooping feeling in her stomach. She didn’t think she would ever, not in a million years, get tired of Maggie looking at her like that.

Just slightly, Maggie shook her head, and her eyes were so bright. “Just you.”


	4. good morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this chapter! I don't really have an excuse, except that I've either been busy or not really in the mood to write. It's here now, though, and hopefully I won't take so long with the next one.
> 
> This was originally going to be the last chapter of this fic, but (and um, chapter spoilers ahead, I guess?) after the finale and the proposal happened, I decided to move it up, kind of as my way of figuring out how I felt about the proposal - and even more so out of pure stubbornness, because I got the idea for this scene back in like, December and I didn't wanna let it go to waste. So, y'know, take it for the AU that it is.
> 
> Please feel free to harass me @ [detmaggie](http://jodqriel.tumblr.com/).

_Be with someone who gives you sex eyes even when you’re doing something as simple as cooking because they just can’t get enough of you._

* * *

_CLANG._

Alex winced as the sound rang through the quiet apartment, throwing a glance toward the bedroom door. Still closed. Good.

When she’d extracted herself from bed to shut off the alarm, Maggie had only rolled over and buried her face deeper in her pillow, which Alex counted as a win. But everything seemed so much _louder_ this early in the morning, before the city was fully awake – like, for some reason, every sound was amplified without the hum of daytime traffic in the background.

Not that she was at significant risk of waking Maggie up just by knocking some dishes together. Most of the time, Maggie slept like a rock. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little paranoid: Maggie had to go in early this morning to testify on a murder case, and even though today was her day off, Alex was determined to make sure her little surprise went off without a hitch.

Or – well, without _another_ hitch. With, like, a fifty percent success rate, at least.

As if on cue, summoned by some primal urge to disrupt Alex’s plans, the bedroom door creaked open. Sighing to herself ( _fifty percent, we can still get fifty percent)_ , Alex whipped her head around to send Maggie a slightly apologetic smile.

“Hey,” she said softly, as Maggie shuffled into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. “Did I wake you up?”

Maggie shook her head. “I had the alarm set,” she mumbled.

 “I was trying to give you an extra fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks anyway.” She was so cute, with her squinty eyes and sleepy frown, which only deepened when she noticed the ingredients Alex had laid out on the counter. “What’re you making?”

Ah, yes, hitch number one. Alex sighed. “I was _going_ to make fancy omelettes, but I forgot to pick up groceries yesterday, so… I hope just bacon and cheese is okay.”

“Well, you know if it’s edible, I’ll be impressed. Kidding,” Maggie added, at Alex’s glare. She wound her arms around Alex’s waist, resting her chin on her shoulder. “Want any help?”

“Nope. This was supposed to be a surprise for you. All I want is for you to park your butt in a chair, and” – just as Maggie’s hands, predictably, started to wander – “keep your hands to yourself.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.”

But thankfully, Maggie complied, withdrawing before Alex could succumb to the urge to kiss away her pout. Also predictably, she made a beeline for the coffee maker, making a pleasantly surprised sound when she saw there was fresh coffee already waiting for her.

“So what’s the occasion?” she asked as she poured herself a cup. Alex raised an eyebrow, and Maggie gestured toward her supplies. “You’re up early, you’re cooking breakfast…”

“I make breakfast all the time!”

“I don’t think making toast counts as _cooking_ , babe.”

Alex had managed to cook plenty of edible dishes in the last year or so, _thank you very much_ – at least a dozen, she was sure – but, feeling like she’d rather avoid rehashing that particular argument this morning, she ignored the jibe.

“I felt bad you had to go in so early, and with how crazy everything’s been lately, I just…” She shrugged. “Wanted to make sure I saw you for a bit before you left.”

There must have been a contaminant in the water, or an irritant in the atmosphere, or _something_ , because the local alien population had been wreaking havoc throughout the city over the past few weeks. Just last week, the DEO had spent nearly three straight days tracking down a gang of hostile aliens who had been using an array of telekinetic abilities to harass unsuspecting humans; while Maggie, for her part, had been working nonstop on a sudden spate of alien-related homicides and assaults – and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

All the unrest meant that their work schedules had become incredibly unpredictable, with each of them often working late into the night and getting called in at odd hours. Sometimes, Maggie would come home from an overnight shift just as Alex was on her way out the door, responding to an emergency call. And because they both had their hands full with their own departments’ assignments, they barely had the opportunity to see each other during the day, with the exception of a handful of stolen lunch breaks, which, brief as they were, had also been – surprise, surprise – dominated by talk about work.

Now that things were starting to slow back down to a more normal, more manageable pace, Alex was beyond relieved to have a day off to recover. But even though they lived together, it felt as though she and Maggie had hardly spoken. It seemed like it’d been ages since they’d been in the same room together – and conscious – for more than a couple hours at a time.

Maggie was clearly feeling the strain, too, because her smile went soft and sympathetic. “We just gotta get through this week, and hopefully things should calm down.”

“And then you’re all mine again?”

“And then I’m all yours,” Maggie promised with a grin.

Alex couldn’t help but drift closer. “Good.”

She’d always been powerless against Maggie’s pull. This time, she allowed Maggie to kiss her for real, feeling her hum against her lips as she pressed their bodies together. But then Maggie went to back her against the stove, and Alex banged her elbow on the frying pan, an effective reminder that she still had at least half a plan to carry out; so, Maggie’s grumbling aside, Alex banished her to the kitchen table – the one they’d brought from Alex’s old apartment when they moved into their new place (almost a year ago now, she realized with a jolt) – to avoid any further distractions.

By the time she’d turned the stove on and cracked open a few eggs, she noticed again how quiet – how unusually, suspiciously quiet – it was this morning. Which was strange, considering she was no longer alone in the kitchen. Her spine tingled with the sensation of someone watching her closely.

She glanced over her shoulder. “Do you need something?”

Maggie shrugged, her face the picture of clueless innocence, except for the deliberate way she flicked her eyes down from Alex’s face and back up again. “Just enjoying the view.”

Even if she hadn’t been smirking into her coffee mug, Alex wouldn’t have believed her.

“If you keep staring at me like that, I’m gonna end up burning the building down.”

“Worth it.”

Maggie’s voice was low, still early-morning raspy, enough that Alex had to take a breath to center herself. As little quality time as they’d spent together recently, rushed mid-afternoon fumblings (or mid-morning, or mid-whenever-they-weren’t-too-exhausted-to-move) _really_ weren’t going to last them much longer.

Fifty percent, she reminded herself sternly. That meant at _least_ getting through breakfast. And besides –

“You’re the one who said you can’t afford to be late today.”

Maggie groaned, dropping her head into her hands. “I did, didn’t I.”

Alex restrained a laugh, but only because her own frustration felt just as palpable, like an itch beneath her skin she couldn’t quite scratch.

“Maybe, just, keep your eyes to yourself, too, for now? For both our sakes,” she added, not wanting Maggie to doubt that she wanted her, too.

Grumbling something about not being allowed to even _look_ at her own girlfriend in her own damn kitchen – “am I allowed to breathe your air, Danvers?” – Maggie reached for yesterday’s paper and unfolded it with a huff. Dutifully ignoring her, Alex got the omelettes going and pulled out the bread for toast.

“When do you need to leave?”

“I’m supposed to be at the courthouse by eight, so, like seven-thirty, probably,” Maggie sighed. “What are you gonna do with the rest of your day off, go back to bed?”

“Well, we still need groceries, apparently, but other than that…” Alex gave her a _look_. “Wait for you to come home.”

“Not helping with the whole ‘avoiding an apartment fire’ thing.”

“Sorry.” Definitely not sorry.

She felt Maggie’s eyes on her again as she finished up at the stove, plated both omelettes, served them. That in itself was nothing out of the ordinary: she was almost always aware of Maggie watching her, if they were the only two people in a room and she wasn’t lost in her thoughts. But it was without the same heat as before; even as she buttered her toast, Maggie regarded her with the kind of thoughtful consideration she was rarely capable of before her second cup of coffee.

She tried to be patient and let Maggie say something first, if she needed to. But when she’d cleaned her plate and Maggie still hadn’t supplied some teasing comment about being proud of her for not setting off the smoke alarm, she decided patience was overrated.

Propping her chin on her hand, she narrowed her eyes. “What?”

It took Maggie a second to respond. “Nothing. I just…” She put down her fork. The look on her face became oddly serious, almost unnaturally calm. “Ask me again.”

It didn’t click right away. Alex frowned. “What?”

Maggie shook her head and leapt out of her seat. “Hang on, let me –”

“Mags –”

More confused than ever, Alex twisted around to track her progress, watching as Maggie dashed into their bedroom at a near-sprint and came running back out with something clutched in her fist. She swiftly tugged her chair closer to Alex’s and perched herself on the edge of it, still with that unusually intense focus in her eyes, still with the whatever-it-was cradled between her palms. Then she took a deep breath, and placed what was unmistakably a ring box on the table between them.

Alex’s brain short-circuited.

“I – I bought this. For you. But I didn’t plan a – a big speech, or anything, because I didn’t wanna – steal your thunder, I guess?” Maggie said with a little laugh. “Since you kinda got a – a head start. I don’t, really know how this works, or how we’re supposed to do this now, after everything, but… I do know that I love you, more than I ever realized it was possible to love another person. And I know that you make me feel happy and safe and loved and – and I am so _sick_ of waiting until one of us almost dies or the world almost ends to do something about it, so.” She took a steadying breath. “Please. Ask me again.”

Maybe she was dreaming. Her subconscious had tortured her with crazier dreams than this.

Numb, Alex looked down at herself, at her faded T-shirt and ratty pajama shorts. “Right now?”

Maggie choked a sound that might have been another laugh. “Unless you want to wait?”

Feeling like she was slowly regaining control over her body, Alex shook her head. In that moment, she couldn’t have looked away from Maggie if she’d wanted to. She tried to get some air in her lungs as she reached for Maggie’s hands.

She had never doubted Maggie – not with the Emily thing, not in the tank – and she wasn’t about to start now. Even so… she knew there was something else she had to ask first, because after everything – after Maggie’s initial rejection last year, after all their open, honest conversations about what they wanted their future together to look like – Alex knew that she couldn’t afford to mess this up. There was no other option here, she _had_ to get this right on the first try.

However, she also knew that she would only need to ask once.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life,” Maggie said, deadly serious, eyes locked on hers. Her grip on Alex’s hands tightened. “And I don’t need to almost lose you again to know that I’m _never_ planning on letting you go. I’m ready if you are.”

Alex wanted to say something, to give Maggie the kind of grand, romantic speech she deserved, the kind she was so good at. She wanted to say that, for so long, even the vague notion of _wanting_ to share her life with another person had seemed completely foreign to her – but now she couldn’t possibly imagine sharing it with anyone else. She wanted to say that it scared her, to realize how empty her life might have been if Maggie had never become a part of it.

But, just like last year, in the moment, the words failed her. It seemed like a miracle that she managed to produce any sound at all.

Despite her best efforts to find her voice, when she spoke, it came out in barely more than a whisper. “Do you wanna marry me?”

The smile that spread across Maggie’s face was – it was… everything.

“Yeah,” she said softly.

Slowly, distantly, Alex felt herself start to smile, too. “Yeah?”

Maggie nodded quickly. “ _Yes_.”

She was definitely dreaming. There was no way this wasn’t a dream.

But then, Maggie’s hands, strong and steady, came up to frame her face and pull her forward; Alex let herself be dragged in, moving half on instinct and half in response to Maggie’s touch – and the way Maggie curled her fingers into Alex’s hair, the familiar crush of desperation in their kiss – that all definitely seemed real enough.

“Wait,” she said breathlessly, holding Maggie back at arm’s length, struggling to get her bearings. “Like – really?”

“ _Yes_ , really, yeah, yes!” Maggie said, with an earnest impatience, already leaning back in.

And then it hit Alex: Maggie was saying _yes_. To _marrying_ her. Maggie actually, honestly, legitimately wanted to marry her. She and Maggie were going to get married. For real, in real life.

“Oh my god,” she muttered, and drew Maggie back in to kiss her with a renewed sense of urgency.

Maggie laughed into her mouth, and pretty soon they were smiling against each other more than they were really kissing. When they broke apart, Maggie’s eyes were shining, and Alex realized that she felt herself starting to well up with tears, too.

Before she could cave in to that inevitability, though, there was something important she had to –

“Hang on, I need to get –”

She jumped up, retracing the same path that Maggie had taken only a minute ago – down the hall, into their bedroom, straight to the top drawer of her nightstand, where a small velvet box of her own had been tucked safely away for almost a year.

Kara had flipped when Alex, blushing and shy, had shown her the ring, only a few weeks after the Daxamite invasion. But by then, she and Maggie had had plenty of time to talk, and she’d been more certain than ever that she would ask Maggie to marry her again, someday. Only, now that that day was actually here, she hadn’t anticipated that her pulse would be thundering as though her life were on the line. (In a way, she supposed, it was.)

As she stumbled back into the kitchen, Maggie’s gaze flickered to the box in her hand, which she made no attempt to conceal. It seemed to grow heavier under the weight of Maggie’s stare, and Alex drew up short, hovering uncertainly in front of her.

Overwhelmed, she tried to explain herself and ask a question at the same time: “I have – how do you wanna – I mean, can I –” but a dozen half-formed sentences kept cutting into each other, like her mouth couldn’t decide which idea it wanted to follow through on.

Enough of it must have gotten through to Maggie, though, and she must have been struck similarly speechless, because she simply held out her left hand without saying anything.

Somehow, Alex managed to sit back down and pull the ring out of the box, without either herself or the ring ending up on the floor. She huffed a helpless laugh: Maggie’s hands were shaking almost as badly as hers. Maggie let out a watery chuckle of her own, but she didn’t even have a teasing quip about Agent Danvers losing her cool; she seemed to be barely keeping it together herself.

Torn between watching what she was doing and watching Maggie’s face, Alex held her breath, slid the ring onto Maggie’s finger, and –

Oh, wow. Oh, shit, this was really happening.

Her heart hammering in her chest, she looked back up to meet Maggie’s bright eyes. Maggie kissed her again, more softly than before, briefly.

“Your turn,” she breathed, fumbling for the box which had been left, ignored but certainly not forgotten, on the table beside them. She took Alex’s hand, a touch so full of reverence that Alex immediately felt her throat start to close up.

“I guess, should I –” Maggie started, stopped. “Alex, will you m–”

“–yes, oh my god, yeah, just,” she was saying, before Maggie was even finished. Maggie smiled that same beaming, impossibly fragile smile, and put the ring on Alex’s finger, and everything seemed to go quiet and still.

“We’re really doing this,” Maggie murmured.

Alex nodded. “Hell yeah we are,” she said, equally as softly.

They stared at each other for a moment, as though they were both afraid of shattering whatever spell had fallen over the room to make it feel like the world had stopped spinning – like this was the only corner of the universe that even existed, just now. Then, all at once, Alex’s vision blurred, and she reached out for Maggie.

Their knees bumped together awkwardly as they hugged, stretching across from one kitchen chair to another, until Maggie adjusted so they could press closer to each other. Maggie was trembling in her arms; Alex might have been worried about hugging her too tight, if Maggie hadn’t been squeezing back just as hard, so hard that it almost hurt. Alex’s breath came in short gasps, but she wasn’t sure if that was because of the pressure Maggie was putting on her ribcage, or because of how hard she was trying to muffle her sniffles in Maggie’s shoulder.

She and Maggie were going to spend the rest of their lives together. Somewhere, deep in a part of her that went beyond words or reason, Alex had known that already. But this was different. This was real.

After – it could have been seconds, it could have been hours – after a while, Maggie’s grip loosened. She peppered kisses along the side of Alex’s head, catching her ear a couple times and making Alex giggle through the well of emotion still lodged in her throat. Her fingers shook slightly as she wiped away Alex’s tears, as gently as she’d ever treated any of her injuries, and kissed the corner of her mouth.

“I…” But Maggie only shrugged, trailing off, just staring at her.

“I know,” Alex said.

Maggie leaned forward, pressing her forehead into Alex’s shoulder. Alex brought a hand up to cradle the back of her neck, rocking them side to side.

“I can’t believe…” Maggie started again, the words muffled. Alex decided to let her finish this time. “I can’t believe I have to leave this apartment today.”

Right. Time had not, in fact, frozen, just because they were busy getting – (holy shit) getting engaged. But still –

“ _That’s_ what you’re thinking about right now?” she said, teasing but soft, scratching lightly at the base of Maggie’s skull. “Going to work?”

“All I’m thinking about is how badly I want to take you back to bed,” Maggie said, without lifting her head, and Alex felt herself flush.

For half a second, she almost suggested they try to make it quick – considering next to nothing about their engagement had been traditional so far, they should at least follow the time-honored tradition of indulging in some celebratory we-just-got-engaged sex, right? – but then Maggie mumbled, “I wanna take my time with you.”

It was a complaint and a promise all in one, and it did nothing to help Alex’s resolve.

“We’ll have time,” Alex reminded her, despite how desperately her body was urging her to haul Maggie into her arms and carry her to their bedroom. Easing Maggie away from her, she ran a thumb over the ring on her finger. “I don’t wanna make the best detective in National City late for her trial.”

Gazing down at their entwined fingers, a dazed smile tugged at Maggie’s mouth, though she still seemed at a loss for words. When she looked back up, she gave Alex the kind of intent, dark-eyed look that usually meant she would be pleasantly sore tomorrow morning.

“When I get home tonight, we’re celebrating for real,” she said.

Alex tried to match her gravity. “I’m counting on it.”

Maggie exhaled. “Okay.” She glanced down at their rings again, nodded, almost to herself, and shared another smile with Alex, the tender kind that made her eyes crinkle. “Okay. Um. I need more coffee.”

Looking kind of lost for a second, she shook her head as though to clear it and got up, wandering over to the coffee maker. Warmed by more than just the rising sun, Alex watched her.

Every day. She would get to watch Maggie pour herself coffee in their kitchen every single day.

(Barring the latest alien emergency, anyway.)

“So, when I tell Kara about this later,” she said, because that was obviously the next logical step here; she joined Maggie at the counter, allowing her to fill her mug, too, “who do I say actually proposed?”

Maggie tilted her head, apparently considering it. “Well, I told you to ask, so I think the honor is officially yours.”

Alex hummed a little and raised her eyebrows. She had a feeling there was more to that statement.

“With the disclaimer –”

“Of course.”

“– that I totally could have knocked this out of the park with – like, a fancy dinner and something special, if. Y’know.”

“Sure.” Alex inched closer, reaching out to tug at the sleeve of Maggie’s T-shirt, drawing her in. “You’re perfect. I love you.”

Maggie mumbled something that was probably supposed to be “I love you, too” as Alex pressed their lips together, pulled her closer.

“I should probably –” Maggie said, as Alex kissed a path along her jaw, down her neck. Her breathing hitched, and she tried again. “I should probably go get ready.”

Beneath her carefully level, controlled tone, Alex could hear her reluctance, the waver in her voice she couldn’t quite hide. She smirked and nipped at Maggie’s collarbone.

“Five more minutes,” she muttered, and she meant it. Just five minutes, just the two of them, to get her through the day. They would have plenty of time.

Maggie sighed quietly, one hand tangling in Alex’s hair, the other tightening on her hip. “Five minutes. You’re on the clock, Danvers.”

And she intended to make the most of every second.


End file.
